Biographies and autobiographies

[esoterica]

My personal favorite type of reading for pleasure (when I have time,) is not trash fiction or chick-lit, but biographies. Especially if they're about entertainers. I think my all time favorite is Johnny Rotten's autobio: Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs. My other would have to be The Divine Feud, about Bette Davis and Joan Crawford.

I tried to read Heavier Than Heaven, about Kurt Cobain, but it was so depressing I had to force myself to put it down. I read Wired, about John Belushi as well. It was ok, but since it was written by a reporter, it came across as very "just the facts," instead of trying to get to the heart of what made the guy tick.

My least favorite was No One Here Gets Out Alive about Jim Morrison. It was well written, but it was obvious throughout the book that it was written by a huge fan of Morrison's because it was SO obsequious.

So what are your favorite bios/autobios?

[aiders]

I'm a royal biography nut and I've read dozens, but my favorite is Packard's Victoria's Daughters. Next on the list is Consuelo & Alva, which my Mom has already read and gave it a good review.

[december]

The best rock 'n' roll bio is the Dirt by Motely Crue, I don't even like the band but a friend told me to read it and it was awesome. The best is you know how sometimes you feel the person is holding back or that the full story isn't being told (some of the Rolling Stones books have this feeling and the Beatles ones) you don't get that. You get info from all sides, plus you can see how the relationships have changed and its even a bit introspective.

Jeanette Walls (the MSNBC columnists) book The Glass Castle is a good quick read as well. More along the lines of being a collection of stories from her youth but still good. I just cannot decide whether the freedom these kids had was good or was closer to child abuse (some of it definetly was or at least negligent).

I love political biographies too and even though I cannot stand them now, James Carville and Mary Maitlin's book Alls Fair on the 1992 presidential campaign was excellent. As was George Stephaopolus' book. I hated Bill Clinton's though. Well some of it was ok but he mentioned everybody he ever met and it just went on and on. Like he had a developmentally challenged neighbour at one stage and meeting her is what made him fight for their rights while President, which it may have but that happened several times in the book. Maybe its more of an editing thing. Hilary's was better and Madeline Albrights was excellent.

[chonies]

Although it often comes across at times like a travelogue, Robert Sapolsky's A Primate's Memoir is excellent: insightful, hilarious, educational and profound.

[jennipoo]

I tried to write about "Elvis and Me" for a book report when I was in the sixth grade. It pissed my teacher off so much that I'm still oddly proud of it.

[stargirl]

My all-time favorite autobiography is The Autobiography of Agatha Christie. Even if you've never read any of her mysteries, it's just so entertaining. She was born in the Victorian Age and "came of age" during WWI, so there's lots of fascinating history packed in there, plus all the asides on her observations of life are very interesting and thought-provoking.

Also, I guess the journals of L.M. Montgomery would count as an autobiography. I've read all of them (the last volume just became available a year ago), but because her life got depressing and sad, I got rid of the last two and just kept the first two or three. Again, like Agatha Christie, she has so many keen observations on life to make; I really felt like I got to know her as a person.
It's funny, though, in a way she seemed very "exclusive" in that she wasn't exactly snobby, but she definitely held herself to be a person that functions a higher wavelength than most ordinary people (sort of like Anne, deigning to be friends with Diana, whom she loved but who wasn't on quite her level). So if I'd actually known her in person, I have a feeling she'd be quite intimidating and I'd probably admire her, but never be a close friend.

Since I'm a huge Torvill & Dean fan, I of course own their autobiography Face the Music which is probably out of print, and which I've probably read 10 times.

[Peggy Lane]

I can't believe I've never read Agatha Christie's autobiography, because I loved her books so much when I was in junior high (and beyond).

I guess it was sort of a standard bio gift at Christmas, but I loved Doris Kearns Goodwin's Abe Lincoln bio. She's taken a lot of flack, but "The Kennedys and the Fitzgeralds" made me fall in love with history. "Team of Rivals" did a beautiful job going beyond the standard bios of Lincoln and really illuminating the relationships that influenced his administration. It was so good I think I finished it in a couple of days, wrecking my wrist in the process because it was so bloody heavy. I also love "Paul Revere's Ride" by David Hackett Fischer. It's a micro-bio, I suppose. but I put the book down really feeling like I knew Paul Revere and his world. I have his new book, "George Washington's Crossing," and I can't wait to read it this weekend.

[divasahm]

Well, damn you all to hell and back for adding to my already ridiculously long reading list. Bios and autobios are my favorites and I have a stack by my bed that I'm trying to plow through between repeated recitations of Blue Hat, Green Hat and Hop On Pop.

I'm just starting Leap of Faith by Queen Noor, having admired her for years, and next up will be Sarge, Scott Stossel's bio of Sargent Shriver. I also hope to read Consuelo and Alva by the end of the summer--we'll have to compare notes, Aiders!

Mr. divasahm is leisurely working his way through Bob Dylan's Chronicles and Phil Lesh's Searching for the Sound: My Life with the Grateful Dead. Unfortunately, he only gets to read during business trips, of which there have been none lately, but I'm hoping he'll have finished them both when he gets back from his trip to Taipei in a couple of weeks, and I can then add them to my stack.

My appetite for royal bios has been whetted by HBO's Elizabeth I--can anyone recommend a good, comprehensive bio of The Virgin Queen?

[luciano]

This is one of the most detailed Elizabeth biographies I have: Anne Somerset's Elizabeth I. Somerset focuses more on Elizabeth's political life than the other two that I've read: Alison Weir's The Life of Elizabeth I and Carolly Erickson's The First Elizabeth. The latter two are easier to read, as they are "fluffier" and focus more on her personal stuff [especially Weir]. I enjoyed all of them but I would use the Somerset's book first if I ever had to get facts of the Queen's life.

I'm a royal biography nut and I've read dozens, but my favorite is Packard's Victoria's Daughters.

Oh, I loved that one - it led me to get Hannah Pakula's An Uncommon Woman: The Empress Frederick. I still haven't read that one, though.

[esoterica]

Just remembered one that I love: Drugs Are Nice, by Lisa Carver. She was the head of the performance art/band Suckdog in the early '90s and was known as the female GG Allin. I read this one over Christmas last year and LOVED it!